June

By Omar Andujar, MBA, Director of the Office of Youth Conference Services for the University of Florida

While the presence of minors on campus is not new nor necessarily on the rise; recent cases of child abuse in various organizations including higher education institutions has increased public awareness of the risks and legal exposures arising from having minors on campus. As institutions continue to learn about the diverse settings minors engage in and the ways they interact while on campus, the interest in creating more formal youth protection efforts has rapidly proliferated. In fact, since 2011 nearly 80 percent of BCS football schools have evaluated or modified their policies related to minors on campus. The intent of this article is to draw attention to fundamental strategies being widely implemented to manage risks and protect minors on campus.

By Gary Langsdale, ARM, University Risk Officer at Pennsylvania State University, Immediate Past President of URMIA, and chair of URMIA’s Leadership Development Committee.

I recently had the honor to represent URMIA in meeting with legislators to explain the urgency of passing a re-authorization of TRIA before it expires at year-end. RIMS sponsors a legislative summit on Capitol Hill most years, and this time the focus was the upcoming sunsetting of TRIA. Around 25 risk managers from a wide variety of industries were provided talking points about the law, "do's and do not's" for meeting with legislators, and materials to give to the legislators with whom we met. We were then divided into teams based on geography, with those from the same or adjacent states working together to meet with their particular senators and representatives; RIMS had arranged specific appointments with the legislators’ offices.

By Barbara Schatzer, MBA, ARM, Senior Director of Risk Management at University of San Diego, Board of Directors liaison for URMIA's 2014 and 2015 Annual Conferences, and co-chair of URMIA's 2016 Annual Conference.

URMIA’s annual conference is the premier event in the organization’s year. For five days, we share our stories and learn of new risk exposures as well as tried and true solutions to old and new exposures. All presentations are made by teams of institutional members and affiliate members whose sole goal is to make us all smarter and more nimble in the ever-expanding field of higher education risk management.

Each year, URMIA hosts in-person regional and annual (national) conferences around the country designed to minimize your cost and time away from the office while maximizing your educational and networking opportunities. A complete schedule of our remaining 2014 events is available here. Stay tuned for 2015 regional conference dates and locations to be announced at the 45th Annual Conference.

In addition to our conferences, URMIA is excited to announce new support resources on the URMIAnetwork. Read on to sign up for URMIAnetwork instructional webinars, learn more about URMIA's conference schedule, access URMIA's updated Third-Party Contract Insurance Guidelines white paper, attend the encore presentation of our URMIA/NAFSA international risk workshop, or become an URMIA sponsor!

Each month, this article provides some of the latest risk management resources, as well as a calendar of upcoming events, webinars, conferences, and other learning opportunities in which you or your campus colleagues may be interested.

How do leaders of American colleges and universities view risk, and how widely is risk management practiced? Do you sometimes wonder if your college is ahead, behind, or running with the pack?

A report released on May 23, 2014 evaluates findings from a survey of 921 respondents, revealing a "conflicted" attitude on the part of college and university leaders toward risk management. Compared with a similar survey in 2008 a higher number of leaders today describe risk management as an institutional priority. And their governing boards apparently talk more about risk than they did five years ago. Yet the report asserts that "uneven implementation by institutional administrators is stalling efforts to fully advance ERM.”Read more...